<![CDATA[CHERYL MCCARTHY - Blog]]>Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:46:35 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Acupuncture for Athletes: Don't Let That Pickleball Injury Slow You Down]]>Sun, 14 May 2023 12:15:04 GMThttps://www.agelessacupuncturesc.com/blog/acupuncture-for-athletes-dont-let-that-pickleball-injury-slow-you-downThe Lowcountry is a sports lover's paradise, offering a wealth of outdoor activities to choose from. If you live in one of the retirement communities such as Sun City, chances are you are out there playing pickleball! But with all that activity comes the risk of injury. As a licensed acupuncturist, I frequently treat patients who have suffered sports-related injuries such as tennis elbow, sprains and strains, sore backs, swollen joints, and even broken bones.  Fortunately, acupuncture can be an effective treatment for these and other sports injuries.
To help you avoid sprains and other sports injuries, let's start with the basics. According to Mayoclinic.com, a sprain is a stretching or tearing of ligaments that connect one bone to another in your joints. The most common location for a sprain is the ankle, and symptoms include pain, swelling, bruising, and limited joint mobility. A strain, on the other hand, is a stretching or tearing of muscle or tendon. Strains can occur in the lower back and hamstring muscles in the back of the thigh, among other places. Symptoms include pain, swelling, muscle spasms, and limited muscle mobility.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, seek medical attention immediately:
  1. You can't walk more than four steps without significant pain.
  2. You can't move the affected joint.
  3. You have numbness in any part of the injured area.
  4. The injured area looks crooked or has bumps that are not on the unaffected joint.

To prevent sports injuries, it's essential to strengthen, stretch, and rest. Plan your return to your favorite activity carefully and gradually increase your endurance. Perform exercises that use the same muscles you'll be using in your sport, and stretch those muscles to their full range of motion. Finally, listen to your body and rest when you feel fatigued.

If you do experience a sports injury, remember the acronym R.I.C.E. - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. And don't forget to see your acupuncturist. Acupuncture can reduce inflammation and pain, speed up your healing process, and get you back on the playing field faster.
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Enjoy the sports season safely and injury-free with the help of acupuncture!
]]><![CDATA[How Chinese Medicine Can Help Treat Stress and Anxiety]]>Sat, 13 May 2023 19:02:56 GMThttps://www.agelessacupuncturesc.com/blog/how-chinese-medicine-can-help-treat-stress-and-anxietyChinese Medicine Successfully Treats Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are emotions that play a big part in our daily lives. We live in a fast-paced society where we find ourselves talking on our cell phones while driving, working long hours to afford our lifestyles, even cramming our vacations full of unending “fun.” When do we give ourselves time to just relax?

Under stress, our bodies produce a variety of chemicals, including adrenaline and cortisol, that get dumped into our bloodstream to help us react to a potential threat. Adrenaline is a hormone that works in the short term. It gets released and quickens our pulse, makes our breathing shallow, increases perspiration and prepares us to physically get out of the way of the stressor. Cortisol has a longer term effect and accumulates in the body when adrenaline is released repeatedly.
In our daily lives we run into problems with stress when the threats that we face do not have quick solutions. Conflict with our bosses, impending deadlines, insufficient money, snarling traffic, responsibilities that feel overwhelming can all lead to chronic stress. This is a problem because our bodies do not have time to recover between episodes of stress. Chronic stress leads to fatigue, negative thoughts, stomachaches, ulcers, migraines, diarrhea or constipation and frequent colds. When these are not addressed they can lead to heart disease, diabetes, infertility, thyroid problems, cancer and depression.

Chinese medicine recognizes the impact that stress has on the body and views stress as a blockage of qi, or energy, that leads to many different problems. A common diagnosis for stress is Liver Qi Stagnation, or a blockage of energy in the liver channel (in Chinese Medicine the energy in the body travels in pathways, or channels, that are named after major organs). It is important to realize that each individual reacts in a unique way.

Acupuncturists can track these reactions by monitoring the energy in all of the body’s channels to determine how the stress is affecting the individual. The resulting treatment works to resolve symptoms as well as the root cause of the problem.

Acupuncture resolves stress by releasing endorphins, the body’s own painkillers, to reduce pain and improve circulation of blood and lymphatic fluids which bring nutrients to the body’s cells and allows waste products in the blood to be flushed out. In addition, acupuncture reduces cortisol levels, lowers blood pressure, shrinks inflammation and relaxes muscle tissue.

Acupuncturists also counsel patients on long-term strategies to deal with chronic stress such as exercise, meditation and prayer, yoga, tai chi, and qi gong. One shouldn’t underestimate the relaxing affect that friendships, the outdoors, laughter, hobbies and music have on our bodies.

Occasionally, its best to just RELAX!
]]><![CDATA[Relief at Last: Ending Menopause Symptoms with Acupuncture]]>Sat, 13 May 2023 18:56:45 GMThttps://www.agelessacupuncturesc.com/blog/relief-at-last-ending-menopause-symptoms-with-acupunctureThe Seven Dwarves of Menopause: Itchy, Bitchy, Sweaty, Sleepy, Bloated, Forgetful and Psycho​

The other day I stumbled upon a reference to a book entitled Menopause and the Mind by Dr. Claire Warga. I have not read the book and am not recommending it here but the following paragraph caught my eye:

“I’m losing it.” women say. “I’m going out of my mind,” “I’m falling apart at the seams.” “I’m flipping out.” “I’m cracking up.” “I’m having a nervous breakdown,” “I’m just not myself.” “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” I do the strangest things.” “I think I’m getting early Alzheimer’s.”
I have had many women walk into my clinic making similar statements. “I cry all the time.” “I’ve become an angry person and do not know how my husband puts up with me.” “I feel as if my head is filled with cotton; I’m forgetful, absentminded and suddenly can’t spell simple words.” “I find myself blanking out when I’m speaking, forgetting peoples names, transposing words and losing my train of thought – what’s wrong with me?” “Some days I just want to kill someone!”

​If you are in your mid-to-late-thirties to mid-fifties some of these complaints might sound familiar. Perimenopause, defined as a transitional period surrounding menopause that can include irregular periods, hot flashes, insomnia, depression, mood swings, mental confusion, recurrent uti’s, vaginal dryness and other menopausal symptoms and lasting on average between 2 and 8 years, and menopause, defined as not having menses for 12 consecutive months, can lead woman to question their sanity. If you want a natural approach to handling these symptoms then you should consider Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs. Traditional Chinese Medicine has been treating and resolving women’s menopausal concerns for centuries. When you sit down with an acupuncturist and discuss your condition, be prepared to answer many questions about your specific situation. Irritability vs. crying-all-the-time, feeling warm vs. cold-hands-and-feet, dry, itchy skin, panic attacks, headaches, ...these are some of the unique symptoms that help your acupuncturist uniquely tailor a treatment to you.

Usually, within 3-4 treatments and often after the first treatment, women notice profound changes in their symptoms. Acupuncture treatments typically last one hour and involve the insertion of fine needles into points on the skin that help to balance energy, or ‘qi’.

​When I treat women suffering from menopausal symptoms I often offer them Chinese herbs in addition to the acupuncture. Chinese herbal formulas contain a number of herbs that are work together to address particular set of symptoms. There are many formulas that specifically treat menopausal symptoms but it is important to utilize the one that pertains to the diagnosis that applies to your unique situation.

Avoid feeling like any of the Seven Dwarves of Menopause! Try acupuncture and begin to feel normal again!
]]><![CDATA[Acupuncture for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Effective Treatment Method]]>Sat, 13 May 2023 18:43:55 GMThttps://www.agelessacupuncturesc.com/blog/acupuncture-for-irritable-bowel-syndrome-an-effective-treatment-methodAccording to WebMD, up to 58 million Americans suffer from IBS, with woman
affected more frequently than men.

​Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can be quite difficult to diagnose because there is no definitive test to determine if one has it. ​In fact, a diagnosis of IBS is based on a set of symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, mucous in the stools, a feeling of an incomplete bowel movement, urgency associated with a bowel movement, gas, nausea and vomiting AND your doctor having ruled out more serious conditions such as bowel cancer, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, intestinal parasites, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or celiac disease. Tests such as colonoscopies do not show any signs of disease.
It is interesting to note that patients with IBS have individual patterns of symptoms. That means that it is rare to find another IBS patient with your exact symptoms. What is common among IBS patients is a bowel that is not functioning normally. Usually muscles in the bowel contract a few times a day to move feces and eventually to produce a bowel movement. Patients with IBS find that the muscles in their bowels are extremely sensitive to certain triggers such as hormones, foods, artificial sweeteners, sugar, dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, stress and other emotional traumas, gas-producing foods such as carbonated drinks, broccoli and beans, fatty foods and medications. Consequently the bowels of an IBS patient might be working overtime or at a very slow pace based on their unique pattern of triggers.

Chinese medicine is an ideal treatment for IBS because of its unique presentation. An acupuncturist is trained to holistically access all of the unique symptoms of their patients and determine a unique diagnosis and treatment plan. That means that a patient that has explosive diarrhea associated with stress will have a different treatment plan than a patient who has diarrhea first thing in the morning that isn’t triggered by stress. A typical acupuncture treatment plan would involve a selection of acupuncture points to address the symptoms and root causes of the condition and it would also likely involve Chinese herbs and some lifestyle counseling.
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Its summertime, time to be out enjoying yourself and not worrying about your IBS! If you want your life back and you are willing to consider a different approach, one that has been around for thousands of years, then consider Chinese Medicine.
]]><![CDATA[What to Expect During Your Acupuncture Session: A Comprehensive Overview]]>Sat, 13 May 2023 18:35:22 GMThttps://www.agelessacupuncturesc.com/blog/what-to-expect-during-your-acupuncture-session-a-comprehensive-overviewWhat Happens In An Acupuncture Session?

The majority of my patients come to see me with not much idea what acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can do for them. Many of them tell me that they have tried various doctors, taken medications, had surgeries and feel like they are desperate for some help with their condition. I hear again and again that “You are my last resort!”

​Why is this? I feel that some of this is fear.
What happens in an acupuncture session?

An initial acupuncture visit will involve a lengthy medical intake history-taking. Many acupuncturists book two hour appointments for your initial visit. The first hour is spent discussing your condition and any other medical issues that you have had in your lifetime and the second hour is used to treat the condition. The goal is to obtain a thorough understanding of your condition, what diagnosis you have received, the various treatments that you have tried and what success you have had with them in addition to what behaviors affect the condition either positively or negatively. It is also important to really listen to the patient. Oftentimes patients have valid observations of their condition that they do not have time to share with traditional doctors given such short visits.

An acupuncturist will also observe the patient’s tongue and pulse. Tongue diagnosis can reveal quite a bit about a patient's constitution. Signs such as color, shape, moisture level and tongue coat are very significant when determining a TCM diagnosis. The tongue acts as a window into the interior of the body to allow a picture into the health of the organ systems or meridians. (Meridians are the pathways that the qi, or life energy, travels within the body. This qi cannot be seen but can be evaluated by monitoring tongue, pulses and symptoms.) A patient’s pulse is taken with three fingers and it’s taken on both wrists as all of the twelve major meridian’s can be evaluated in this way. An acupuncturist looks at pulse rate, rhythm, amplitude and intensity. A tongue and pulse reading, along with the signs and symptoms of one or more conditions will help determine a diagnosis and a treatment plan for the patient.

An acupuncture treatment usually involves insertion of acupuncture needles that are the approximate thickness of a cat’s whisker. Unlike hypodermic needles, these needles are solid (not hollow, therefore are slimmer) and very flexible. When you touch an acupuncture needle it will bend with the pressure! These are very fine instruments whose purpose is to stimulate the qi in the meridians to help resolve energetic imbalances leading to decreases in pain, inflammation and stress.

Receiving acupuncture is very relaxing. The needle insertion itself is at most a quick prick but usually is entirely painless. You then get to rest in a darkened room with soothing music on a deep mattress often leading to a 10-20 minute nap.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a complete medical modality that is especially good at treating conditions that just do not respond to traditional medicine.
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